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Solar intake guide

Better solar proposals start with better intake questions.

A structured intake reduces guessing, exposes missing data early, and gives the consultant a defensible source of truth for the proposal pack.

Best for

Consultants qualifying new solar advisory projects before drafting proposals, reports, SOWs, or trackers.

Solar client intake questions grouped by client goals, utility data, site constraints, assumptions, and scope
Solar advisory detail

What to include before the client sees the pack.

These sections are written to be useful in the workflow itself: intake prompts, document sections, review checks, and client handoff content.

Client goals

Start with the decision the client is trying to make.

What decision do you need this work to support?
Who approves the next step and by what date?
What would make the project successful or not worth pursuing?

Utility and usage

Solar recommendations depend on data quality.

Who is the utility provider and what tariff applies?
Do you have annual usage, monthly usage, interval data, or demand charge details?
Are there planned load changes, electrification, storage needs, or operating-hour changes?

Site and scope

Scope boundaries should be visible from the first intake.

What roof, land, structural, ownership, access, or shading constraints are known?
What deliverables do you expect from the consultant?
What work should be explicitly excluded?
Common questions

Questions about solar client intake questions.

Clear answers help the consultant and client agree on what is known, what is assumed, what is excluded, and what should happen next.

What questions should a solar consultant ask a new client?

Ask about client goals, decision deadline, approval stakeholders, site address, utility provider, tariff, usage data, demand charges, roof or land constraints, target system size, budget, incentives, financing, required deliverables, exclusions, and success criteria.

Why does solar intake need utility data?

Utility data affects usage offset, economics, tariff sensitivity, demand charge context, and the credibility of any production or savings discussion.

What happens if the client does not have all inputs?

The proposal can still move forward as an advisory draft if missing inputs are clearly flagged and assumptions are marked as needing verification before client-facing decisions.

Can Solardeck create a missing-data request?

Yes. Solardeck can turn incomplete intake into a prioritized missing-data request that explains the input needed, owner, reason, and impact.

Does Solardeck need API integrations for intake to work?

No. Manual estimate and structured intake mode works without integrations. Optional enrichment can be added later when API keys or data sources are available.

Make it repeatable

Turn this guidance into a reviewed solar proposal workflow.

Solardeck turns intake answers into proposal sections, SOW phases, assumptions, missing-data requests, tracker items, and PDF-ready handoffs.

First proposal path

Capture a structured solar intake
Generate the advisory pack
Review assumptions and missing inputs
Share the portal and export the PDF
Start first proposal